World Championships: World-Record Holder Thomas Rupprath Leads 50 Backstroke Qualifying

By John Lohn

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 30. HE loves the sprint events, always has. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Germany's Thomas Rupprath posted the No. 1 qualifying mark in the preliminaries of the 50 backstroke. The world-record holder, Rupprath uncorked a time of 25.25 to place comfortably ahead of the 25.47 of South Africa's Gerhard Zandberg.

Rupprath's world-record time sits at 24.80 from when he won the event at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona. He was the silver medalist at the World Champs in 2001. Grabbing the third position heading into the semifinals was Germany's Steffen Driesen in 25.52 while Matt Clay of Great Britain checked in fourth at 25.66.

Tying for fifth were American Ryan Lochte and Great Britain's Liam Tancock. Lochte was coming off a world-record performance in the 200 backstroke and was also the silver medalist in the 100 backstroke and 200 individual medley. As for Tancock, the Commonwealth Games champion won bronze in the 100 back earlier in the week. He's a pure sprinter and could be considered the favorite, particularly with the front-half speed he showed in the 100 distance.

Greece's Aristeidis Grigoriadis, the defending world champion, was seventh in 25.74 and Aaron Peirsol, the world-record holder in the 100 back, was 10th in 25.96. Peirsol won the 100 back earlier in the week and took silver in the 200 back while having his seven-year unbeaten run at the international level ended.

Click Here to view event results PDF file.

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